Are you tired of adventuring?
Do many of the jobs in Final Fantasy 14 fill you with dread?
Would you like a surefire way to make bucket-loads of Gil fairly quickly?
Then boy, do we have the guide for you today!
This time on the Geeky, Inc. blog, we’re going to dig into the Miner gathering sub-class to excavate a comprehensive guide that will surely be the motherlode for aspiring prospectors.
Ok, that’s the last of the mining puns for this one… maybe. We’ll see how it goes.
Anyways, grab your pickaxes, and let’s get started!
What is a Miner?
Any person under the age of 18.
Just kidding! A Miner - as it applies to Final Fantasy 14 - is a player who has chosen this specific subclass and travels across Eorzea looking for Mineral Deposits to plunder. But, in order to become a Miner in the first place, there are a few prerequisites that must be met:
- Must be either a Disciple of War or a Disciple of Magic
- Must reach level 10 in either of those disciplines
- Must take on the “Way of the Miner” quest at the Ul’dah Miner’s Guild
Upon the completion of that quest, you will be recognized as a Miner and can begin your very lucrative, relatively safe mining career. From there, it's up to you how to proceed. But before you head out, you should probably get familiar with the class-specific stats you’re going to be dealing with for the next several dozen hours.
Gathering - This stat increases your chances of scoring any item from a Mineral Deposit. In order to mine high-level items and resources, you’ll need an appropriately high Gathering level - which can be raised more quickly the higher your Chain is. Your Chain increases in accordance with the number of resources you mine, which results in even more resources and more experience points.
Perception - This stat provides you with an opportunity to activate the Gatherer’s Boon effect, which DOUBLES the resources you acquire when you mine. It’s worth noting that not every resource benefits from this effect.
Now, onto the good stuff!
How Do I Mine?
The act of Mining in Final Fantasy 14 is really simple, but I’m going to walk you through it anyway.
First, you’re going to want to equip the Miner’s Pickaxe. This is your tool of the trade, and you should never leave home without it. Next, you will use the Prospect skill out in the world to highlight Mineral Deposits.
When you approach a Mineral Deposit, several things will happen:
- A list of all of the potential items and resources inside that node will appear
- The levels of all of those items and resources will also be visible
- You will also see the percentage of your chance to activate Gatherer’s Boon by interacting with the Mineral Deposit.
If a Mineral Deposit contains a resource you’ve never encountered, you will see a question mark in the bottom left corner of its icon. We recommend prioritizing these nodes so you can expand your Miner Gathering Log as quickly as possible.
Every Mineral Deposit you interact with will have 4 to 6 strikes available before it is exhausted, meaning you can whack it 4 to 6 times to receive an item of your choosing from the list of items. At 5-level intervals, opportunities for class quests will appear, which will unlock new Material Deposits of higher levels for you to interact with. You can’t even see these nodes before you complete the class quests and level up, so this is another place you’re going to want to focus your energy.
How Do I Level Up My Miner FAST?
If you want to clear Mining levels fast in Final Fantasy 14, prepare to get to work.
There are plenty of ways to gain experience, but all of them involve getting your hands dirty. Here are a few different ways you can gain EXP:
Mining (duh) - Every time you mine and pocket an item, you get a little bit of experience. As mentioned above, mining many nodes consecutively will build up your Chain which gives you an EXP multiplier. The best way to get better is through practice, right?
Gathering Log - Every time you collect an item or resource for the very first time, it will get added to your Gathering Log and you’ll be awarded some EXP for that new entry. You’ll also gain EXP when you collect a certain number of an item and pass a milestone. This is something that kind of happens in the background as you mine and complete objectives, so you don’t have to think too hard about it. Easy EXP!
Class Quests - As stated above, class quests unlock every 5 levels and have a bunch of potential bonuses such as special items, gear rewards, and good chunks of bonus EXP. Handling these as soon as they pop up is a great way to glide through levels.
Levequests - Miners will also have access to Levequests, which are quests that you can repeat to farm experience, Gil, and some items. Levequests require Leve allowances in order to take them on. Each Miner gets 3 allowances every 12 hours, and can have a maximum of 100 at all times.
The Diadem - When a player levels up a Gathering class to level 20, The Diadem in Ishgard is unlocked. In it, they can gather up rare items and enjoy massive EXP boosts on each visit. This is one of our favorite ways to acquire large amounts of EXP.
Now, if you want to juice up that EXP gain even more, here are some ways you can buff your numbers:
Food - Nobody works well on an empty stomach, and the same goes for FF14 Miners. Eating food can buff certain stats and provide a 3% EXP bonus for 30 minutes. Remember to snack on something before you head out for the day, because that small percentage makes a big difference over time.
*Note - You can extend the Food EXP buff timer to an hour if you eat two pieces of food, but you should know that the buffs of the second food item won’t stack with the first. You’ll only extend the timer without any additional bonuses.*
Manuals - These are items that can be acquired by trading in Grand Company Seals at your Grand Company, or White Gatherer’s Scrip at any Scrip Exchange. When used, Manuals give you a 3-hour EXP boost. Handy!
Road to 80 - This is a buff applied to players who create new characters on a Preferred World. It gives you a 100% EXP boost on any job as long as you're under level 80. This one is massive and extremely helpful for low-level players.
Exp Gear - When you preorder expansions, you will also get special gear that will give you a 30% EXP buff under a specific level. Additionally, there is also the Friendship Circlet, which can buff your EXP gain by 25% until you exceed level 25.
Earth and Water - This is a buff that can be activated by a Free Company, which gives up to a 20% EXP buff.
Class Quests
To close out this blog, I’m going to provide you with a detailed breakdown of what you’ll need to complete each Class Quest. Keep these items in mind while you mine, and always go out of your way to collect them when you come across them. It’ll save you a ton of grinding hours down the road.
Quest LVL 1
10x Copper Ore
Quest LVL 5
10x Bone Chip
Quest LVL 10
10x Obsidian
Quest LVL 15
10x Cinnabar
Quest LVL 20
15x Grade 1 Carbonized Matter
Quest LVL 25
15x Effervescent Water
Quest LVL 30
15x Wyvern Obsidian
Quest LVL 35
20x Raw Amethyst
Quest LVL 40
20x Jade
Quest LVL 45
20x Electrum Ore
Quest LVL 50
3x Darksteel Ore
Quest LVL 53
10x Mythrite Ore
Quest LVL 55
10x Titanium Ore
Quest LVL 58
10x Hardsilver Ore
Quest LVL 60
3x Adamantite Ore
Quest LVL 63
20x Beggar’s Mythril Ore
Quest LVL 65
20x Feather Iron Ore
Quest LVL 68
20x Serpentine
Quest LVL 70
5x Pummelite
Delivery 70
18x Animal Trace
Delivery 73
18x Animal Droppings
Delivery 75
18x Megafauna Leftovers
Delivery 78
18x Megafauna Trace
There are a ton of adventures to have in between these quests, so remember to take time to be immersed and explore the world of Final Fantasy 14 when you can.
Thanks for reading! We hope you enjoyed this blog and we can’t wait to see you in the next one. In the meantime, check out some of the other awesome content we have on Geeky, Inc.!
